Each year The Billfish Foundation recognizes the best of the best in the billfishing community to acknowledge the significant effort they contribute to our Tag & Release Program and billfish conservation. Since its inception in 1990, the program has grown to accrue nearly 240,000 tag and release records to become the largest private billfish tagging database in the world. In the last year alone, TBF has collected nearly 15,000 records! The information gathered through tag and release efforts has been invaluable to help better manage billfish stocks, better understand these fish, and preserve the sport we love. This has only been possible through the efforts of conservation minded captains and anglers across the globe.

Winners will be recognized at Miami’s Jungle Island Treetop Ballroom on February 15th, 2019 at the 2018 International Tag & Release Awards Ceremony. Some of the biggest names in billfishing will be in attendance to collect awards from our headline sponsor, King Sailfish Mounts, who together with Floy Tag, and Casa de Campo sponsor the event. We also want to thank our 2018 Tag & Release program sponsors: Costa Sunglasses, PELAGIC Gear, 20Echo, Casa Vieja Lodge, Garmin Inc., YETI Coolers, and the International Game Fish Tournament Observers Inc. Click here to get your tickets!

This year’s
competition was tight, with hundreds of records arriving at the TBF office just
before the deadline. We are pleased to announce the following winners of the
international tagging competition:

Top Overall Tagging Angler: Katie Kosich – Newport Beach, CA

Top Overall Tagging Captain: Ben Horning – Sarasota, FL

Top Overall Tagging Lady Angler: Katie Kosich – Newport Beach,
CA

Top Overall Tagging Youth Angler: Kaleb Richardson –
Lafayette, LA

In the release
category of the international competition, we had the following winners: